Literaly nothing could have prepaired me for the first time I saw the epic music video for Windowlicker, which honestly deserves as much attention as the song it self.
We came home late one night from a particularly good night out. The band of ragged partygoers that we were, unable to let go fully of the party. Someone had sat themselves down by the computer and the sound system to be the resident youtube DJ, willfully ignoring our pleas to turn off "10 hours of Njan Cat". With swift interjection and a solid shove off the chair, we wrestled the computer from the grips of our less than able, wannabe DJ and sat, in total silence for what felt like an hour thinking of what to play (Njan Cat nonwithstanding). Suddenly it came, like a bolt of lightining "Hey, have you seen the music video for Windowlicker?" Granted, I had heard of Aphex Twin before, and often insist upon playing it at parties, much to the chagrin of my friends. Someone suggesting to watch a music video by Aphex twin at an afterparty is like suggesting we all go out to the pub for a glass of water and to discuss aerospace engineering. A rare event to put it modestly. So yes, why not? Lets hear it! No, no this is for watching. So we watch, and what starts out as your typical shot of downtown LA, quickly breaks down into your typical relentless parody of main-stream gansta rap, with a cartoonish ammount of swearing, and two guys cat calling from a convertable. The whole scene is drawn out, and honestly difficult to pay constant attention to, but funny none the less. Things aren't going well for the young gangstas before the star of the show arrives in a cartoonishly long white limo, which sets the stage for the arrival of Aphex Twin, and the beginning of the song. Now I've sold enough of the video. It's weird, bizzare and totally perfect for all the right reasons, go watch it.
This is Aphex twin at his pop aphex. Catchier and more melodic than anything that has come before or since. He almost appears to be taking a break from the usual. Not quite so techy and avant-garde, and not so classically harmonic and reserved. The source material is novel, relying mostly on his voice and straight vocal samples as well as a standard set of drums and a cymbal to sample from. God, it's almost like he's found a middle ground. A lovely piece of constructed caos. Catchy and like an ear worm should be, but slightly dark and disconcerting, like that ear worm will sooner or later crawl into your brain and lay it's eggs. Not quite club electronic, but then again, totally club.
